Baroness Noakes

The Conservatives have won a key vote in the Lords toughening up legislation overhauling Britain's laws on sexual offences.

As the Sexual Offences Bill continued its progress through the Lords, the party had urged peers to back an amendment aimed at ensuring sex in a public lavatory does not become legal.

In a vote on Monday evening, members of the upper house gave their support to the Conservative plan. The vote was won 133 votes to 95 with 14 Labour rebels joining the Tories against their own chief whip.

Baroness Noakes, who led Tory calls to toughen the legislation, had warned that the current proposals could see children exposed to sexual acts.

The government is attempting to update laws dating back to the 1950s, but the Opposition has expressed unease at rules covering sexual activity in public.

Under the initial proposals, sex in a public lavatory could have been prohibited, but only if a part of the people engaging in it could be seen.

The government withdrew that clause of the Bill during the committee stage in the Lords, saying it would instead rely on the common law offence of outraging public decency and on Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

But the Conservatives said that this does not go far enough towards protecting the public, and in a key vote on Monday peers backed an amendment ensuring that sexual activity in public lavatories is against the law.

"Our amendment makes it clear, once and for all, that sex in a public lavatory is not legal. We think that this is what decent people in our country want," Baroness Noakes said ahead of the vote.

"The current draft of the Bill significantly weakens the legal protections against sex in public lavatories because the Bill also repeals the gross indecency offence which was often used to deal with the issue."

While the proposal would apply to any person or people engaging in sexual activities in a public lavatory, there has been concern that the main target of the plans is the act of "cottaging" - gay sex in public lavatories

Lord Alli, a Labour peer, has warned against "any extension of criminalising people for having consensual sex".

But the Conservatives stressed the move would apply to "both homosexual and heterosexual activity as well as sexual activity carried out by an individual".

The party also said that there is genuine public concern over the issue.

"If there is anything less than a total prohibition, we run the risk of making public lavatories no-go areas for the general public and in particular for children," Baroness Noakes had told peers.

"There are already instances of public lavatories being no-go areas or having to be closed because the existing law, which is not an absolute and explicit ban, is either not good enough or not enforced."

The government had argued that its proposals would ensure that the public is protected.

"We believe that sexual activity in public places, which we agree entirely includes public lavatories, can cause outrage or offence to those who witness it or become aware of it by other means, such as hearing what is going on," Home Office minister Lord Falconer has said.

"No one should have to witness or experience such activity as they go about their daily business. Our aim has always been to ensure that the law provides sufficient protection from such behaviour, which...should take place in private, that means not in a public lavatory."

Defending the government's plans, Lord Falconer has said the difficulty in defining laws to deal with the issue can be highlighted by the example of a closed toilet cubicle door.

"It is difficult to know from hearing noises which act...is taking place. That is the problem with our draft and with all the amendments," he told peers.

But the Conservatives believe their amendment will protect the public

"The offence does not rely on seeing the act but obviously the prosecution will have to prove to the normal standard of proof that the act has taken place," said a party document.